Review on 🔪 Shapton Homogeneous Waterstones, the Traditional Choice for Sharpening by Payton Stovall

Let the slurry build up until it looks like wet mud. Unlike diamond stones, which look grainy but most lose their grit after five minutes - if you want a 320 grit diamond, you need to buy a 220 grit stone - this waterstone retains its grit. And unlike diamond stones, it doesn't constantly clog, which even happens with honing fluid used to remove chips. You may need a piece of Sacrificial Steel to get the slurry. (I use blades from the cheapest log plane they had at Home Depot.) Or maybe not. Warning: When it comes up, you feel superficial and disappointed. It's not as sharp as #120 sandpaper. I think the surface wears away as you move and the grout holds the sand that gets the job done. I was disappointed until I started ironing with a razor iron. I was getting more and more frustrated, but then I suddenly heard him start grinding or cutting, and in minutes the stone was doing what my 220 grit DMT diamond stone would take hours to do. Obviously, this stone is designed for hard work. Because these stones are smooth, they are incredibly comfortable. If I had known then what I know now I would have just bought them and received a set of cereals. I received a 12k grit Shapton stone for Christmas and am very happy with it. Do they stay flat? Yes and no, as required. When sharpening an iron to smooth a plane, you have to take care of the smallest deviations; When you sharpen knives, you have more leeway. I have El Cheapo toilet stone so I use it and other stones against each other and it seems to work fine. (I think you can get flatness with just three stones, but a cheap sharpening stone helps by creating a bridge between that stone and higher grit stones.) I level with every use, so it takes very little time - and is oddly satisfactory. Will Diamond Stones Survive These Sheptons? Of course. Why not? Will diamond stones last a lifetime? Yes, but only if you plan to live as long as a large breed dog. A colleague has a set of DMT stones where the diamond has clearly worn most or most of the surfaces. He likes to grind surfaces that are part diamond and part steel, but that's okay because diamond stones are just super awesome! Are there better stones than these shaptons? Of course. Why not? If you find them and the price is right, buy them. It's about getting the best you can afford, not brand loyalty. Until then, my long-term plan is to put together a working, albeit incomplete, set of these. I am very happy.